Conventionally, a semiconductor manufacturing apparatus has been provided with a cover opening/closing device in order to suppress particles in a transfer section of a front opening unified pod (FOUP) from being mixed into a substrate transfer section through a cover of the FOUP. A cover opening/closing device known in the related art includes a mounting table, on which a FOUP is mounted such that the front surface of the cover of the FOUP faces a transfer port opened/closed by an opening/closing door, a gas ejection port provided in a surface that is opposite to the FOUP, and a reciprocating mechanism that reciprocates the FOUP mounted on the mounting table in relation to the opposite surface (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2012-204645). In the cover opening/closing device described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2012-204645, when the distance from the gas ejection port to the cover of the FOUP is 5 mm or shorter, a purge gas is supplied to the cover so that the flow rate of the purge gas flowing between the cover and the opposite surface increases, thereby enabling particles on the cover to be easily removed.
In addition, a transfer apparatus known in the related art includes a ground element such that, even when a wafer charged with electricity is accommodated in the transfer apparatus, the wafer is suppressed from being contaminated by particles existing within the transfer apparatus (see, e.g., Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2014-067744). The conveyance apparatus described in Japanese Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 2014-067744 includes a holding table including a first positioning pin that positions a transferred object and configured to deliver a wafer accommodated in the transferred object, an arm unit configured to grasp the transferred object so as to dispose the transferred object on the holding table, and a support unit configured to fix the transferred object disposed on the holding table. At least one of the first positioning pin, the arm unit, and the support unit includes the ground element.
According to the cover opening/closing apparatus and the transfer apparatus described above, some effects may be obtained in suppressing particles from being mixed into a substrate transfer section when a FOUP or a substrate (or wafer) accommodated in a transferred object is carried into the substrate transfer section.